Week 10: Sustainability Flashcards
LCA (Life Cycle Assessment)
The processes and actions required to manage waste from creation to disposal.
What are the benefits of an LCA (Life Cycle Assessment)?
- Determine risks of environment early
- Identify magnitude of each step and which has the greatest effect
- Obtain information about environmental impacts
Waste Management
The generation, prevention, monitoring and treatment of solid wastes.
Hierarchy of waste?
3 R’s = reduce, reuse, recycle
Polluter Pays Principle
Where the polluting party has to pay for their impact on the environment
(Having a waste generator)
What are some options for end of life products?
- Disposal to landfill
- Incineration to produce energy
- Chemical feed-stock
- Recycling
- Remanufacturing
- Reuse
Reuse
Use of a product more than once for its original function or for something different
Remanufacturing
Remanufacturing is restoring and repair of equipment, machines or their components.
Recycling
Recycling is the reintroduction of recovered materials into the new cycle.
What happens to steel’s properties when its recycled?
It doesn’t lose its properties
Tramp Elements
Metals other than steels which are difficult to remove
What are example of tramp elements?
Copper cables, tin, nickel, lead, chromium
Why is removing tramp elements expensive and difficult in technology?
Because aluminium is very reactive
What are methods to remove tramps from steel?
Diluting, refining and downgrading
